Henry's Freedom Box

Author: Ellen Levine

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Genre: Historical Fiction

Levine, Ellen, and Kadir Nelson. Henry's Freedom Box. Columbus, O.H.: Zaner-Bloser, 2013. Print.

Annotation
Henry Brown was born into slavery. Because of this he doesn't know his birthday because no one records anything about slaves. All the time he dreams about freedom, but his dream seems farther away than ever when he is taken from his family and put to work in a warehouse. When Henry grows up he marries, but becomes devastated again when his family is sold at the slave market. One day, as he is lifting a crate at the warehouse he gets an idea. He decides to mail himself to the North. After his long journey in the crate he finally has a birthday-- his first day of freedom.

ELA Content Standards
Key Ideas and Details- Grade 2
3.) Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

How it Connects: Students can discuss how Henry responds to all of the challenges he is faced with while being a slave, and what he challenges with while he is trying to travel to freedom.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas- Grade 2
7.) Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

How it Connects: Students can talk about the character traits, where the setting takes place, and the main points the author is trying to get across.

Vocabulary
 geography, history, repeat

Classroom Usage
Small Groups: Create a KWL chart-- Write what they know about the topic of slavery, want to know, and learned through reading the book.

Differentiation
ELL students can use this book to learn new vocabulary, and work on their comprehension.